


Child from fate

by Thelastvorta



Series: Family life [1]
Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Family, M/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:14:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26865736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thelastvorta/pseuds/Thelastvorta
Summary: A collection of short stories documenting Julian and Garak's life together with their little girl Teval.
Relationships: Julian Bashir & Elim Garak, Julian Bashir/Elim Garak
Series: Family life [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1959913
Kudos: 20





	Child from fate

Julian rubbed at his face. The display on the shuttle was starting to strain his eyes and he was getting extremely tired. Garak was sitting in the co-pilot seat, going through messages on his PADD.

“We’ve received another message. This one is from Starbase forty-one.” Garak turned to Julian to show him the message that had come through.

“An andorian girl?” Julian asked, looking at the profile attached to the transmission.

“She’s six years old. I know, older than we discussed. But nobody has visited her for months, her chances of adoption are apparently very low.” Garak whispered, looking at the screen. Julian sighed and thought for a moment. He and Garak had been trying to adopt for months. They were originally on their way to meet a bajoran boy on starbase 274, but they were informed the child had been already been adopted by a betazoid couple. They knew the adoption was pending, but they were still holding out hope. Julian looked at Garak, although he never admitted to it, he was crushed to find out the child they originally hoped to adopt was not going to come home with them on the shuttle. He’d heard Garak crying in the small bedroom the night they found out, but when he came in, he put on a brave face. Julian had shed some tears at the control panel but for the first time ever, he was not as optimistic as Garak. Garak had even started making clothes for the baby, no matter how many times Julian reminded him there was already an adoption pending.

It took a while to bring Garak around to the idea of having children. Whenever he thought about them, he could only think of how his father raised him. He had written off the possibility of having children a long time ago, as he didn’t want to repeat his own childhood with another child. But Keiko eventually wore him down. Whenever they visited, the children seemed to have grown an impossible amount. Keiko would tell him stories of the children growing up, the joys of experiencing their milestones with them, and teaching them everything they knew to prepare them for the world they would enter. After a while, he realised he didn’t just want to hear the stories Keiko told, he wanted to experience them himself. He wanted to watch a child grow, watch them learn, and adapt to the world around them. Most of all, he wanted that with Julian.

_“As long as they grow up to be like you. If they grow up with any traits of mine, I will never speak to them again.” Garak stated folding his arms, looking at a picture of Julian when he was a child._

_Julian stood behind Garak and wrapped his arms around his waist. “So, we will be raising our child to be a federation doctor?” Julian joked._

_Garak thought for a moment, then shuddered. “I change my mind. They can learn from me regarding their profession.” He stopped for a second, contemplating the scenario he was agreeing to. “They can also learn their sense of style from me.”_

“She has your smile, Julian.” Garak noted, staring at the photo of the little girl. Julian looked at Garak’s face, he could see how badly he wanted a child. He could almost see Garak’s imagination creating scenes of this child growing up with them in the reflection of his eyes.

“What’s her name?” Julian asked, as he turned the chair to face Garak fully and placed a hand on his knee.

“Teval. They found her stranded on a shuttlecraft at four months old. Her parents had died during an attack from a Romulan ship. Her profile says she is rather quiet but very studious. She enjoys taking her andorian studies class and…oh! She is very fond of listening to cardassian stories.” Garak looked up at Julian. “My dear, she seems like such a wonderful little girl. I know she’s older than we discussed adopting, but this message appeared just after the other child was adopted, almost as if it was meant for us to meet her!” All the scenarios Garak had imagined came tumbling out of his mouth. “You could teach her about human culture and federation worlds, and-and I could read cardassian literature to her when she can’t sleep and make clothes for her- “

“Garak!” Julian interrupted, standing up and placing both hands on either side of his face. Garak stopped talking, and the smile on his face began to falter. “I’ve already changed course to the starbase.” Julian smiled, Garak stood up and flung his arms around him. Julian laughed and hugged him in return. Garak pulled back to give Julian a quick kiss, then rested his forehead against his.

“My dear doctor, I really hope she is the one.” Garak whispered.

“There is only one way to find out my love.” Julian pressed a kiss to his husband’s forehead, before sitting back down to pilot the shuttle.

Garak practically ran into the docking bay once the shuttle had landed. Only slowing down once he realised Julian wasn’t behind him. From the shuttle, Julian chuckled as Garak speed-walked back to him.

“Julian, we have to meet her. It can’t wait. I can’t wait. I need to meet her. Now.” Julian couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen Garak this excited. He took the cardassian’s hand and let himself be all but dragged to the orphanage.

They were greeted by a human woman in a Starfleet uniform as they arrived.

“Doctor Bashir, Mr Garak. I’m Lieutenant Eileen Stel. I ran the orphanage here.” She shakes the hands of both men. “I am delighted you were able to come so soon! I’ve told Teval about you and she is so excited to meet you both. I will warn you though she can be quite shy.” Eileen ushers for them to follow when Garak suddenly stops. Julian noticed and told Eileen they’d be inside in a moment.

“Garak, are you alright?” Julian takes Garak’s hand again.

“Oh, everything is just fine my dear. It just occurred to me this could be the moment we have waited for. We could leave today and be fathers. I just wanted to take a moment to appreciate that.” Garak smiled at his husband.

“We have to meet her first Garak. Don’t get too ahead of yourself.” Julian chuckled.

“I have a good feeling my dear, and I find those quite hard to ignore.” Garak looked back at the door and nodded to himself.

“Are you ready?” Julian asked, squeezing Garak’s hand.

“My dear, I have never been more ready for anything in my life.” And with that, Garak practically dragged Julian through the door so fast there was almost no time for it to open for them.

Teval was playing with her back to the adults when they came in. Only when Eileen called for her did she turn around. It took a lot of self-control for Garak not to run over, grab her and leave. Instead he and Julian slowly walked over with Eileen to meet the little girl. Teval was very shy, clinging to the plush sehlat she was playing with moments ago. Her antennae were angled towards the two strangers, analysing them. Julian crouched down and smiled at her.

“Hello, Teval.” He said softly. “My name is Julian. And this is my husband, Garak.” He turned and tugged at Garak’s sleeve, bringing him back to reality. Garak sat down next to Julian and smiled at Teval.

“Hello, little one.” Garak cooed. “Who are you playing with?” He gestured to the sehlat, still pressed firmly to her chest. Teval relaxed slightly, but her antennae were still fixed on the two men.

“He doesn’t have a name.” Teval whispered, looking down at the toy.

“Doesn’t have a name? Well, that simply won’t do, will it? Your friend needs to have a name, otherwise, how will you call for them?” Garak asked. “Julian, don’t you agree that Teval’s friend needs to have a name?”

“Oh yes of course. Calling them Teval’s friend all the time would become very tiring.” Julian smiled, nodding enthusiastically with Garak. Teval smiled as the men in front of her joined in her game, her antennae starting to relax to their neutral position. She held the toy up to her ear as if she were listening to it.

“He says he wants you to name him.” She holds the toy out to Garak, who shuffled forward to take it.

“Well…he is very big and scratchy…and he looks like he has a rather grumpy face.” Garak mocks contemplation for a minute.

Teval sits down in front of him. “He is very grumpy when he is hungry. He has an angry face, but his heart is happy.” She informed Garak, who nodded intently and continued to think. Julian watched the interaction adoringly, it seemed Garak had been right.

“Hmm…his heart is happy…can you tell me anything else about him?”

Teval thought for a second before answering. “Sometimes he makes silly choices, but when he sees it was silly, he tries his best to fix it. He also likes to play pretend and pretend to be other things.”

“Well…he reminds me of somebody we knew once, doesn’t he Garak?” Julian asked, changing from a squatting position to sitting so he could be closer to the two.

“He does indeed my dear! I was just thinking the same thing. In fact, I think that could be the perfect name for him.”

Teval smiled and shuffled closer to the two men in front of her “What is his name?”

“I will need to ask him if he likes it first. After all, it would be rude to not give him a choice in his own name.” Garak put his hand up beside his mouth as if he were whispering and made hushed noises towards the sehlat’s ear. Once he was finished, he held the sehlat to his own ear. “I see…yes…yes…hmm…” He nodded along to the imaginary statements from the sehlat, which made Teval giggle.

Garak handed the toy back to Teval. “He told me that he likes the name, Odo. But he also said if you didn’t like it, you could pick a new one for him.”

Teval smiled and looked down at the toy again. “I like Odo.” She looked up at the two men in front of her. “Odo likes you too.”

The shuttle’s atmosphere was much different when they re-entered. Especially since this time, they were entering as fathers. Well, foster fathers for now. After Teval had a very intense conversation with Odo, they both agreed they would like to spend some time with Garak and Julian. Garak carried the little girl onto the shuttle and placed her on the bed.

“Someone told me that you like to hear Cardassian stories. Is that true?” Garak sat next to her on the small bed. Teval nodded enthusiastically. “Well then. I know quite a lot of cardassian stories. Would you like me to tell you one?” Teval nodded once again, her antennae tilted towards him so she could listen. Julian watched as Garak leant against the wall and patted the spot on the bed beside him. Teval crawled up and sat next to Garak, looking up at him as he started the story, before going to the control panel to fly them home. After a while, he realised Garak was no longer telling the story. Julian stood up and walked back over to the bedroom, to see Teval curled up and asleep in Garak’s arms, Odo still in hand. Julian smiled warmly and sat on the foot of the bed.

“It’s quite strange.” Garak whispered, still looking at Teval. “We’ve only known her for a few hours, and yet I feel like I have known her since she was born. I don’t think I could part with her from now.”

Julian looked at the little girl sleeping soundly against his husband’s chest. “She seems to really like you Garak.”

Garak looked up at Julian and smiled. “I hope so. Because I like her very much.” Garak looked back down at the child he was holding, and lightly moved a lock of her white hair out of her face. “Who would have thought someone like me would end up being so enamoured by a child. If Tain saw me now, what would he think...”

“I don’t know what he would think, but I can see you now, and I’m thinking about what a wonderful father you’re going to be.” Julian stood up and went over to kiss his husband but was stopped when Garak placed a hand against his forehead.

“Not now…you could wake her.” Garak whispered. Julian chuckled to himself and settled for kissing his forehead, then headed back out to the shuttle console so he could take them home.


End file.
